Hot-air furnace



(No Model.) I

-S. DEWHIRST. HOT AIR FURNACE.

No. 595,436. Patented Dec; 14, 1897;

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@ammum v WawQ/flz v w- 3 T UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIMON DEWHIRST, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

HOT-AIR FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,436, dated December 14, 1897.

Application filed April 10, 1897. Serial No. 631,655. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, SIMON DEWHIRST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in /the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Hot- Air Furnace, of which the following isa specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a furnace of simple, cheap, strong, and durable construction especially designed for burning slaked coal and intended particularly for use in connection with brick-kilns, but which, however, may be used for any of the ordinary purposesof a hot-air furnace.

A further object is to provide means whereby a comparatively large quantity of coal may be placed in the furnace at one'time, so that a fire may be maintained for along time with only an occasional stoking of the furnace and raking of the grates.

A further object is to provide a furnace of this class in which the black smoke and gases arising from the fuel will be consumed before passing to the flue.

\ My invention consists in certain details in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the furnace and coal-feeding mechanism therefor, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 shows apart of a furnace in front elevation and part in transverse section taken through the line 1 l of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal section of a complete furnace connected with abrick-kiln, which is also in section, ready for practical use.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the reference-numeral is used to indicate the side walls of the furnace, having the arched top 11 and the ends 12, all of which are preferably made of plate metal. At the top of the furnace I have provided a hopper 13, having a series of pipes 14: leading therefrom to the interior of the furnace. The slide-valves 15 in said pipes provide means for controlling the flow of the slaked coal from the hopper to the interior of the furnace. It is to be understood that this hopper may be filled with slaked coal and the coal drawn therefrom into the interior of the furnace by manipulation of the said valves as desired.

At a point above the center of the interior of the furnace I have provided a horizontal partition 16 of the same length as the furnace, but considerably narrower than the interior of the furnace, and 17'indicates a door leading to the space above the partition 16. Beneath this partition I have protected the sides of the furnace with a brick casing, and I have also provided a series of transverse arches l8,with spaces 19 between them. This obviously leaves a number of openings at the sides of the plate 16 and between the arches 18. In each of these spaces 19 I have provided at the sides thereof the incline-plates 20, having perforations 21 therein, thus providing air-chambers, to which air is admitted through the pipes 22, which lead to the front of the furnace and fromwhich the air is discharged through the openings 21 into the space between the arches 18 to supply the proper quantity of fresh air to the interior of the furnace above the grates.

The grates are indicated by the referencenumeral 23, and are placed at a suitable distance above the bottom of the furnace within the brick setting. A door 24 provides access to this combustion-chamber above the grate, and an opening 25 provides access to the ashpit. 26. Y

In practical operation a comparatively large quantity of coal is placed in the hopper 13 and a considerable quantity thereof is permitted to flow through the pipes 14: upon the plate 16. A fire is then started upon the grate 23. This fire will obviously serve to coke the coal upon the plate 16, and, furthermore, the smoke and gases and other products of combustion arising from the coal on the plate 16 will be forced downwardly through may open the door 17 and stoke the coal through the openings in the plate 16 between the arches 18, so that it will fall upon the grate 23. It is obvious that this coal upon the grate 23 will produce a bright and free fire, which will readily consume the smoke, &c., arising from the fuel upon the plate 10.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. An improved hot-air furnace, comprising in combination, inclosing walls, a grate extending longitudinally of the furnace from one end to the other, said inclosin g walls havin g an opening at one end of the grate through which access may be had to the grate, and having at the other end of the grate an opening through which the heat and products of combustion pass, a series of transverse arches above the grate having spaces between them, a platform smaller than the interior of the furnace resting upon the central portions'of the arches and designed to receive coal which when coked may be stoked through the spaces between the arches to the grate, said inclosin g walls being air-tight above said platform, and means for supplying coal to the said platform, substantially as and for the purposes stated.

2. The combination with a furnace having inclosing walls and a grate, of a horizontal partition directly above the grate, and a series of arches, having openings between them, extending from the sides of the furnace and supporting the said partition.

3. The combination with a furnace having inclosing walls, a grate, and means for providing access to the interior of the furnace, of a horizontal partition directly above the grate and of approximately the length of but narrower than the furnace, a series of arches extending from the sides of the furnace and supporting the partition, the said arches having openings between them, perforated plates placed within the said openings, and pipes leading from the said perforations to points without the furnace to thereby provide airpassages, substantially as and for the purposes stated.

4. A slack-burning furnace, comprising sheet-metal sides, top, and ends, a grate, a horizontal partition 16 near the upper part of the furnace above the grate, a series of arches .18 supporting the said partition and having openings between them, perforated metal plates placed within the openings, pipes leading from the said perforations to points outside of the furnace, a hopper above the furnace, a number of pipes leading therefrom to the interior of the furnace, valves in said pipes, suitable doors at one end of the furnace, and a passage-way at the opposite end of the furnace leading from the combustion-chamber below the said partition, all arranged and combined substantially in the manner set forth and for the purposes slated.

SIMON DEWI'IIRST. lVitnesses:

JosEPH A. DEWHIRsT, THOMAS G. Oawre. 

